“And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” Genesis 6:3

“The days of our years are threescore years and ten; And if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, Yet is their strength labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” Psalm 90:10

We have experienced the Lord taking some of His servants home in recent weeks. These times are full of sadness and reflection on the purpose of life. As in all things pertaining to our lives, the Scriptures give us the answer we need to understand life and what God is doing. We look at death as the enemy that separates us from the one we love. In this sense, it is indeed an enemy, but one controlled by God.

Just before the flood, God said that the evil in the heart of man was “only evil continually.” He limited the lifespan of man to 120 years. Moses writes in Psalm 90:10 that the lifespan is further limited to 70 years and that the limit is because God is angered at the continued evil in the heart of man.

Moses writes in Psalm 90:12 the prayer to “teach us to number our days, that we may apply our heart unto wisdom.” A consequence for an action, if it is too far away has little effect on present behavior. So God shortened life so that every time we have a funeral, we would be reminded that we too will soon meet the Lord. While we do not like the thought of death, the shortened time is meant as a gift from God to help us seek the wisdom needed to reverence God and seek a right heart with Him. Numbering our days should cause us to draw close to Christ and use every day for His glory.